Business

Is your Canberra accountant making you money?

Not sure who to trust for business advice in Canberra? If you only use your accountant for taxes, then you are overlooking an important resource. An external accountant often has vital knowledge about your industry and its key players, which can support you in running your business.

For example, just a quick catch-up can give you an idea of how your business is doing relative to competitors. By setting benchmarks in areas such as sales, market penetration, production costs and overheads, you may uncover changes that would improve profitability.

Although taxation remains their bread and butter, most modern accountants have evolved into business consultants – focused on finding different ways to add value and save you money.

Here are five ways your Canberra accountant can help you save money and operate more efficiently:

Bookkeeping and payroll

An accountant can design and implement an effective record-keeping system specific to your business. This saves you time and money, and allows you to concentrate on building your business.
They can also form part of the solution for your enterprise, or become your whole finance and payroll department for a fraction of the cost of an internal CFO.

preparation of payroll including PAYG calculations, payment summaries and employee final pay and entitlements

assistance and support with accounting software matters such as processing, application and integration of systems

staff training and relief staff

Cash flow management

Essential to the survival of any business is a projection of cash flow that will occur in the next 12 months. An accountant can work with you to produce a cash flow statement that shows when (and how much) money is coming in and going out. You can then decide whether you will need to reduce costs or increase prices for your cash flow to remain positive.

Personal finance

Accountants have knowledge on tax-minimisation practices, business valuation, due diligence and estate planning – all crucial elements to establishing a cost-effective business exit strategy.

Business planning

A business plan steers you towards your goals and helps to secure funding. Underpinning this plan are your assumptions about the environment around you. Accountants can add value here by confirming or challenging your ideas and beliefs. This will ensure your plan remains achievable, realistic and up to date in the eyes of potential investors.

Managing growth

Most businesses will need to plan for increased sales levels. Higher outgoings from growing spend on staff, office or warehouse expansion, production and logistics will need to be met before money arrives from your sales.

An accountant can model costs and help you evaluate alternatives to finance your growth, preventing costly mistakes and leading you down the path of success.

And it doesn’t all need to be done in-house. At RSM, for example, our flexible approach means we can perform these key functions in-house and remotely, using cloud based accounting software technology to ensure compliance, improve business efficiency and maximise growth potential for clients.